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Reducing the Academic Risks of Over-Optimism: The Longitudinal Effects of Attributional Retraining on Cognition and Achievement

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Abstract

Although optimism is generally regarded as a positive dispositional characteristic, unmitigated optimism can be problematic. The adaptiveness of overly optimistic expectations in novel or unfamiliar settings is questionable because individuals have little relevant experience on which to base such expectations. In this four-phase longitudinal study we examined over-optimism in students when making the transition from a familiar academic setting (high school) to a novel academic setting (college). In particular, we focused on the efficacy of attributional retraining (AR), a control-enhancing intervention, to ameliorate the scholastic transition of overly optimistic students in terms of academic-related causal attributions and control perceptions, course grades, and overall GPAs. Results suggest that overly optimistic college students who did not receive the AR intervention increasingly endorsed maladaptive causal explanations for academic performance, and performed at the same level as students with extremely low optimism. Conversely, as expected, over-optimists who received the AR intervention significantly increased in their use of adaptive causal explanations and perceptions of control, in addition to academically outperforming the no-AR/over-optimists. These findings indicate that the potential risks associated with over-optimism may be reduced by pairing optimism with AR to induce adaptive cognitions, thereby facilitating achievement.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a Manitoba Health Research Council (MHRC) graduate studentship to the first author, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) postdoctoral fellowship to the second author, a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) research grant #501-2002-0059 to the third author, a SSHRC doctoral fellowship to the fourth author, and a SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship to the fifth author. The assistance of Steve Hladkyj and Nancy Newall in data collection and analysis was invaluable. Parts of this research were presented at the annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association in Portland, Oregon, April, 2005.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

    Tara L. Haynes, Joelle C. Ruthig, Raymond P. Perry & Robert H. Stupnisky

  2. University of California, Irvine, CA, USA

    Nathan C. Hall

  3. Department of Psychology, The University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2, Canada

    Tara L. Haynes

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  1. Tara L. Haynes
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  2. Joelle C. Ruthig
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  3. Raymond P. Perry
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  4. Robert H. Stupnisky
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  5. Nathan C. Hall
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Correspondence to Tara L. Haynes.

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Haynes, T.L., Ruthig, J.C., Perry, R.P. et al. Reducing the Academic Risks of Over-Optimism: The Longitudinal Effects of Attributional Retraining on Cognition and Achievement. Res High Educ 47, 755–779 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-006-9014-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-006-9014-7

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